No muss starter pictorial

[bregent]

Here's a brief pictorial of my current no-feed, low maintenance starter technique.
I made two 500gram loaves with this a few weeks ago. I keep the starter in the fridge in a 8oz jelly jar. I go from fridge to finished loaves in less than 24 hours. Great sourness and leavening.

Pictures

1) 2 month old starter from fridge.
2) Top-down view to show thickness (66% hydration)
3) 16 grams of starter used to make levain the evening before baking
4) 200 gram levain
5) Levain after 12 hours proofing
6) Finished bread
7) Crumb shot

 

[BGKYSmoker]

This looks easy.
Im going to try it. Have a new bread baking pan coming tomorrow so this will be a good break in for it.

Thanks

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

You just take starter down to 66% than store?

 

[bregent]

You just take starter down to 66% than store?

Not exactly. It's a simple process but there are a few key concepts.
The starter is built in 3 stages over the course of about 8 hours. The first two stage are at 100% hydration, but the final stage uses more flour than water to bring it to 66%.
Also, for the first two stages you let the volume double before going to the next stage. For stage 3, and this is very important, you only let it increase 25% before putting it into the fridge so that it has enough food to survive without additional feeding for up to 4 months.
I use about 8 grams of starter for each 500g loaf. Once the amount of starter gets down to the last 8-16 grams, you build it up again. At the rate that I bake - about 1 loaf per week - the starter lasts about 3 months.

It's all explained in detail here: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/40918/no-muss-no-fuss-starter

I follow that procedure, with the exception of the levain build. He has you also building that in 3 stages. I found no real difference in just using 1 stage - that way I can mix up the levain in the evening, and it's ready to make dough in the morning.

 

[SmokinAl]

Judy bought a starter from King Arthur & has had it for years, but it would be cool to make your own. I’ll show her this thread & she probably will give it a try!
Thanks for posting it.
Al

 

[bregent]

Hi Al, to be clear, this is not a procedure for creating a new starter. It is a procedure for maintaining the starter you already have.